The initial public offering (IPO) of 20 Microns, which saw the applications supported by

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blocked amount (Asba) process making its debut, witnessed only 11 per cent of the application money getting released by banks for the purpose of allotment.

The balance 89 per cent remained in the Asba investors’ accounts, which were unblocked on September 26, 2008, a statement by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said.

Asba is the new mode of payment for retail individual investors whereby share application amount stays in investors’ account till the time of allotment. This mode of applications for retail investors was first introduced in the IPO of 20 Microns, which opened on September 8, 2008 and closed on September 11.

The issue size of 20 Microns was Rs 23.93 crore. The issue was subscribed 4 times. In the retail category, it was subscribed 11.13 times.

Out of the total subscription money of Rs 78.65 crore received in the retail category, allotment was made to the extent of Rs 8.75 crore, while the refundable money amounted to Rs 69.90 crores (around 89 per cent of the total subscription money received).

The amount refundable to investors was Rs 5.05 crores, which as per the Asba norms, did not move out of investors’ accounts at any point of time.

At the time of receipt of application, the bank accounts of non-Asba investors were debited to the extent of 100 per cent of the application money. However, in case of Asba investors, there was no such debit to the bank accounts as accounts were only blocked to the extent of 100 per cent of the application money.

“After finalising the basis of allotment, only 11 per cent of the application money was released by the bank for the purpose of allotment,” Sebi said.